Choice in Education


by Conrad Trudelle - Date: 2007-01-07 - Word Count: 744 Share This!

The decision to home school your child can be a difficult one to make. Many parents wonder if it is the right thing to do. Many wonder if their children can get the same "grade" of education if they are home schooled. There are many reasons why parents choose to home school their kids. For many it is because they want to add religious content to their children's learning experience. Making the decision to home school is usually a very difficult not and it is not one to be taken lightly. It is a personal decision that no one can make for you, but there is help available, a comprehensive guide to make the choice to home school your kids a successful one. When making the home school decision, you must first consider these things:

1. Time commitment that is involved.

Home schooling has a tendency to take up a lot of time in your day. It involves more than just sitting down with books for a couple of hours. There are experiments and projects that have to be done, lessons to prepare, papers to grade, field trips, park days, music lessons, and the list just keeps on going. You can go online and search for some sample schedules that will help to give you an idea of a typical day.

2. Personal sacrifice.

The home schooling parent has very little personal time or time alone and away from their children. If a lot of care is not taken to set aside time for yourself, it is easy for the parent to feel overwhelmed. Basically, the parent and child are together 24 hours a day and this can get frustrating on both sides.

3. Financial problems can arise.

Home schooling can be accomplished with very little cost to you; however, it usually requires that the teaching parent will not be working out of the home. Some sacrifices will need to be made if the family is used to two incomes. Of course, if you are a single parent, this could pose an even bigger problem.

4. Time for socialization.

More attention will need to be given to getting your children together with his/her peers. The best part of home schooling is being able to have more control of the social contacts your child makes. However, the downside is that you must prepare your child yourself on how to socialize with other kids. Home schooling has a tendency to make your child feel isolated.

5. Household organization is harder.

Housework and laundry and other housework will still have to be done, but it probably won't get done first thing in the morning. If you are a neat freak, you might be in for a big surprise. Not only does housework need to be let go at times, but home schooling creates messes and clutter on its own. You will have to get organized so that you can keep your home together.

6. Both parents must agree to it.

It is important that both parents agree to home schooling. It is very difficult for this to work if one of the parents is against it. If your spouse is against it at this time, try doing more research and talking to more people so that you can be absolutely certain it is something that both of you can agree upon. Otherwise, the chances for success are much smaller.

7. Your child has to be willing.

A willing student is crucial to the success of home schooling. Ultimately, the decision is the parents to make, but if your child is dead against it, you might have a very difficult time in teaching them. The fact of the matter is that an unwilling child can sabotage his/her own school efforts.

8. Choice of Curriculum.

The choices you make as to what format to use to teach your child/children make this choice the most important. There are Christian based alternatives as well as mainstream based options. One of the deciding factors in this choice is the state requirement in your area.

9. Know that it works one year at a time.

It isn't a lifetime commitment and doesn't have to become one. If you find that home schooling just isn't worth it, you can choose to go the regular route. There is a lot more to home schooling than to just do it. As a parent, you must know that your child's education is the most important factor in his/her future. You need to be thoroughly prepared for all of the time and commitment that is involved.


Related Tags: education, child, parent, choices, resources, committment, home school, campus school, requirements

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